Diplomacy and World Power: Studies in British Foreign Policy, 1890 1951

Beschreibung

Beschreibung

Zara Steiner's contribution to the history of modern British foreign policy has shown successfully the connexion between the attitudes of those who have been responsible for British diplomacy and the policies they produced. Thus, in honouring Dr Steiner, the contributors to this volume explore a number of case studies involving personality and foreign policy: examining the attitudes of those who made or influenced British diplomatic strategies; how these attitudes were shaped by and, occasionally, shaped events; and how British foreign policy in a few instances was fashioned as a result. The contributors have concentrated their efforts on the years 1890-1950, the period of Dr Steiner's interest. This is an important juncture in both international and British history, when Britain's position as the only world power was undermined by the nature of the first and second world wars, and when British diplomats and others had to make adjustments to changed domestic and external conditions in war and peace. The volume therefore adds to the explanations about how and why the transition in Britain's status as a Great Power occurred in the way it did.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction Michael Dockrill and Brian McKercher; 2. 'A world apart': gentlemen amateurs, professional generalists Valerie Cromwell; 3. 'Experiencing the foreign': British foreign policy makers and the delights of travel Keith Robbins; 4. Arbitration: the first phase, 1870-1914 Richard Langhorne; 5. 'Only a d...d marionette'?: the influence of ambassadors on British foreign policy, 1904-1914 Keith Neilson; 6. Old diplomacy and new: the Foreign Office and foreign policy, 1919-1939 Brian McKercher; 7. The evolution of British diplomatic strategy for the Locarno Pact, 1924-1925 Eric Goldstein; 8. Chamberlain's ambassadors Donald Cameron Watt; 9. The British Foreign Office and France during the 'phoney war', September 1939-May 1940 Michael Dockrill; 10. Churchill the appeaser? Between Hitler, Roosevelt and Stalin in the Second World War David Reynolds; 11. From ally to enemy: Britain and the Soviet Union, 1941-1948 Geoffrey Warner; Biographical notes.

Pressestimmen

"...this is an enjoyable, lively, sometimes humorous, but always scholarly collection." Anne Deighton, Albion "Diplomacy and World Power is a significant book--specialists in international history really should read all of the stronger chapters--and an appropriate tribute to a scholar who has inspired much of the significance to be found in international history" John R. Ferris, Canadian Journal of History